Quy Nhon, Central Vietnam tide times

Quy Nhon is the working capital of Bình Định province — a port city backed by hills, with a 5 km bay beach of dark volcanic sand facing east onto the South China Sea. It is less visited than Đà Nẵng or Nha Trang, which means its tidal patterns and fishing rhythms are still largely intact and legible from the shore.

The tidal regime at Quy Nhon Bay is mixed semidiurnal with diurnal inequality, mean spring range 1.0–1.5 m. Two highs and two lows per day are typical, but one high tide is measurably taller than the other. The range is moderate — enough to change beach character noticeably between states, but not so large that access points flood dramatically. At high spring water the dark sand beach narrows to a 20–30 m strip; at low water it widens to 50–70 m and gentle bars emerge offshore, creating calm wading pools favoured by families. The wave exposure is northeast, so the bay catches swell during the northeast monsoon (November through March) and is calmer through the southwest season.

The tuna fleet is the most visible economic force in the port. Quy Nhon is Vietnam's leading tuna export city — longline vessels work the deep South China Sea for skipjack and yellowfin tuna and return loaded. The timing of arrivals at the main commercial harbour aligns with the flood tide in the early morning: an incoming flood between roughly 0500 and 0900 assists vessels entering the harbour entrance and reduces fuel needed to make headway against current. Fish buyers and processors are at the docks from 0500 onward, and the market activity peaks as the fleet arrives on that flood window. If you want to photograph or observe the unloading operation, be at the harbour by 0530.

Ky Co Beach (Kỳ Co) is 30 km south of Quy Nhon, accessible by road to Nhon Ly fishing village and then by boat across the bay. The beach sits against sea cliffs with emerald water — the colour comes from depth and a clean offshore bottom. The boat service from Nhon Ly operates through a shallow tidal channel inside the bay. At low water the channel depth drops to around 0.5–0.8 m and the flat-bottomed ferry boats scrape; boat operators at Nhon Ly will delay or cancel departures when the tide is below a workable threshold, typically avoiding the two hours either side of low water. Check the day's tide table and aim for the morning flood window, departing Nhon Ly between 0800 and 1100. Return trips work best before the mid-afternoon ebb deepens the current against you.

Eo Gio, the Gió Valley cliff trail, is 20 km northeast of Quy Nhon along a rocky coastline. The trail is 1.5 km out to an exposed headland and back, running along eroded sandstone cliffs above a tidal inlet. At its narrowest the trail crosses the head of the inlet, where the tidal water comes within metres of the path at high water. This crossing does not submerge at normal tides, but at spring high water — the highest tides of the month — the crossing gets cut to a 1.0–1.2 m-wide strip of rock and is not suitable for anyone unsteady on their feet or carrying a heavy pack. At low water the inlet drains to exposed mud and rock and the crossing is comfortably wide. Most visitors who are unfamiliar with local conditions should time arrival at Eo Gio to within two hours of low water. The trail itself is only safely walkable in dry conditions — the sandstone surface becomes dangerously slick after rain regardless of tide state.

Bãi Xép, the small fishing village 8 km south of the city centre, is where smaller-scale inshore fishing boats operate. The beach at Bãi Xép is narrow and sheltered in a cove — it gained international attention after an indie film was shot there. At high tide the cove beach is 10–15 m of sand backed directly against the rocks. At low tide a 30 m apron of sand and rock pools exposes, and the rock pools hold small crabs, urchins, and nudibranchs worth exploring at low water.

The Cham towers of Bánh Ít, 11th-century brick sanctuaries 25 km north of the city, sit inland on a hill above the Côn River. They are not tidal in any direct way, but the access road crosses the river floodplain and the Côn River itself is tidal in its lower reaches — the flat paddy fields between the towers and the coast flood during the wet season and the tidal influence pushes upstream during those months. For cultural visits, the towers are accessible year-round.

Tide data for Quy Nhon, Central Vietnam comes from the Open-Meteo Marine API, a gridded model product. Timing accuracy is ±45 minutes, height accuracy ±0.3 m — usable for trip planning, not for navigation.